Daily Archives: October 17, 2011

Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity has already met with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham regarding the postgame confrontation with Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin on Saturday and the Southeastern Conference is in the process of reviewing the incident.

McGarity, who was in Nashville on Saturday, said he discussed the situation with Georgia head coach Mark Richt by telephone on Sunday, then met with Grantham face-to-face in his office at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall early Monday morning. Meanwhile, both Georgia and Vanderbilt have been asked by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive to submit written reports to the league office for review.

Yeah! Two grown men making asses out of themselves in public. That’s the kind of crisis Mike Slive can sink his teeth into!

“First of all, I love my players and appreciate their hard work and investment in our program,” Grantham said. “I feel a responsibility and loyalty to protect and stand up for them. However, I feel it’s important to educate them in all areas of life. While my intentions were genuine, I feel it was unfortunate that things escalated to a confrontation. However, I’ll use it as a learning experience for my self as well as my players so that we all become better men.”

I’m sure he’ll get right on that after he finishes ripping his players a new one over the second-half run defense play.

Georgia is still in the thick of things – actually you could say that things have gotten thicker – so I’ll keep the stat watch going (background here). Here’s what I’m watching:

Hold opponents under 17 points per game.

Finish at least +8 in turnover margin.

Average better than 380 yards per game on offense.

Finish in the top five in total defensive yardage.

Finish in the top three in first downs.

Finish no worse than third in passing yardage.

Finish no worse than third in sacks.

… and here’s where the Dawgs currently stack up.

Hold opponents under 17 points per game. Scoring defense is at 20.43 ppg.

Finish at least +8 in turnover margin. Now at +5.

Average better than 380 yards per game on offense. In total offense, Georgia is averaging 411.14 ypg.

Finish in the top five in total defensive yardage. Georgia ranks third in total defense.

Finish in the top three in first downs. Georgia is fourth in first downs.

Finish no worse than third in passing yardage. Georgia is third in passing yardage.

Finish no worse than third in sacks. Georgia is tied for second in sacks.

Well, Vandy didn’t help defensive scoring as I had anticipated and the Dawgs slid one spot in first downs. But everything else was shored up. Georgia’s definitely on pace to meet that turnover margin goal, as long as the offense doesn’t bleed too much.

Yeah, I went back and watched that turkey of a game again. Just for you, Dawgnation.

Georgia didn’t defend the run worth a damn in the second half, but that was the best I’ve ever seen a Georgia defense play against the bubble screen. I guess we know what they worked on during the week leading up to the game.

If it seemed like Aaron Murray threw the ball a lot, it’s because he did. I had to check – 38 pass attempts is the most he’s ever thrown in a game, tied with last year’s loss against UCF.

Anybody wonder how the end of the game would have played out if Rambo had returned his interception an easy ten or fifteen more yards before taking a knee?

Other teams’ success with junk plays and special teams’ breakdowns has got to stop some time, doesn’t it?

No offense to the other backs, but everything seems different when Isaiah Crowell is in the game.

There were plenty of “almost” plays by the defense, led by Kwame Geathers’ near-safety and the flattening of Jordan Rodgers that came a millisecond too late to disrupt a long completion on Vandy’s third-quarter scoring drive (Jordan Love’s terrible technique didn’t help on that play either).

Jarvis Jones just keeps showing up and kicking ass. And getting held constantly.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen any team blitz as constantly against Georgia as Vanderbilt. The run blitzes were particularly effective, but left them susceptible to cutbacks and counters, which Richard Samuel IV (!) took advantage of.

Good job by Murray seeing the breakdowns in the secondary on the two TDs to Marlon Brown. But the pass that really wowed me, a perfectly thrown ball to Tavarres King in the fourth quarter, wound up incomplete because King couldn’t quite get a foot in bounds on the play.

Monster game from Abry Jones. I especially liked the pass bat down on the play he dropped into coverage on.

The receivers stepped it up in the second half, but the deep threat from Malcolm Mitchell was certainly missing. It’ll be good to get him back for the Cocktail Party.

I’m not excusing what Geathers did to draw the personal foul penalty, but I can’t say I don’t understand why it happened. For all intents and purposes, the play was over (Geathers had slowed to a near-walk) when he got blind-sided from behind by Vandy’s center. It was the kind of cheap shot that gets somebody’s knee hurt.

Holy cow, is Bob Rathbun a bad play-by-play announcer, or what? He referred to Samuel in the plural the entire first quarter, called Vanderbilt’s first punter “Richard Dent” (it’s Kent), missed players all night (he had a particularly bad time recognizing where the quarterbacks went in the Wildcat) and in general sounded like someone who showed up 30 minutes before the broadcast started, got handed a roster card and a couple of newspaper articles listing five keys to the game and told to get going. Pam Ward may suck, but at least she sounds like she makes an effort to prepare. Rathbun mailed that in worse than Georgia’s defense did in the second half.

And finally, the real reason I watched again: Franklin vs. Grantham. I couldn’t see everything (thanks, Fox!) and I think Grantham could have made his point with a few less f-bombs, but I will say that Franklin is being a wee bit disingenuous when he says he just went looking for Richt to start with. The whole mess began with Franklin calling out and pointing at Shawn Williams, who had his backed turned and was walking away from the tirade. Then Franklin saw Grantham and the rest is history.

If it seems like we’re all marking time until November 5th, it’s only because we are. And not just for the titanic game in Tuscaloosa – Arkansas plays South Carolina in a game that will significantly impact on the races in both divisions. And for those of us composing power polls, don’t underestimate the importance of Kentucky and Ole Miss facing off. We’ll get to know once and for all which is the worst team in the conference.

LSU (7-0, 4-0). The Tigers did what superior teams are supposed to do, steadily dismantled a weaker conference opponent on the road.

Arkansas (5-1, 1-1). The Hogs finish the season with six straight conference games.

Auburn (5-2, 3-1). In games against two of the top three teams in the East, Ted Roof’s defense has given up a total of nineteen points. There’s no better evidence in support of Western superiority than that.

Georgia (5-2, 3-1). The Dawgs scored an ugly win over Vanderbilt, but that kind of play would have resulted in a loss in seasons past. So, progress of a sort.

South Carolina (6-1, 3-1). The ‘Cocks resume their old habit of playing down to the level of their opponent. (And yes, the Lattimore discount is being factored in with this ranking.)

Florida (4-3, 2-3). I’ve got to rank the Gators somewhere.

Vanderbilt (4-3, 1-3). They’ve got a pulse and a conference win, which is more than you can say about the four teams ranked below the Commodores.

Mississippi State (3-4, 0-4). If Dan Mullen is a genius, then why is MSU averaging a shade over 15 ppg in conference play?

Tennessee (3-3, 0-3). With the injuries, there’s just nothing left there.

Ole Miss (2-4, 0-3). Painful to watch this team’s play against a respectable opponent. At least Ole Miss has Louisiana Tech and Kentucky to look forward to.